A questionable source exhibits one or more of the following: extreme bias, consistent promotion of propaganda/conspiracies, poor or no sourcing to credible information, a complete lack of transparency and/or is fake news. Fake News is the deliberate attempt to publish hoaxes and/or disinformation for the purpose of profit or influence.

Memri's purpose, according to its website, is to bridge the language gap between the west - where few speak Arabic - and the Middle East, by "providing timely translations of Arabic, Farsi, and Hebrew media".

Despite these high-minded statements, several things make me uneasy whenever I'm asked to look at a story circulated by Memri. First of all, it's a rather mysterious organisation. Its website does not give the names of any people to contact, not even an office address.

The reason for this secrecy, according to a former employee, is that "they don't want suicide bombers walking through the door on Monday morning" (Washington Times, June 20).

This strikes me as a somewhat over-the-top precaution for an institute that simply wants to break down east-west language barriers.

The second thing that makes me uneasy is that the stories selected by Memri for translation follow a familiar pattern: either they reflect badly on the character of Arabs or they in some way further the political agenda of Israel. I am not alone in this unease.

So what if Memri is showing the most extreme views of the Arab world, the facts are that things that are shown on Memri actually happen daily in the Arab and Islamic world. How is it propaganda if Memri is picking out views that actually exist and broadcasts them. Theres also the fact that many people you quoted have a bias towards Israel and Zionism, so none can really be regarded as unbiased. And also its common for Arabs and or Muslims to blame others for their own mistakes, no one shows them negatively to the world except themselves.]]>
Sun, 13 Jan 2019 23:34:20 +0000https://www.islamicity.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=43894&PID=218960&title=one-take-on-muslim-repression#218960https://www.islamicity.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=43894&PID=218945&title=one-take-on-muslim-repression#218945
Author: abuayishaSubject: 43894Posted: 09 January 2019 at 5:24am

Brian Whitaker, the Middle East editor for The Guardian newspaper at the time, wrote in a public email debate with Carmon in 2003, that his problem with MEMRI was that it "poses as a research institute when it's basically a propaganda operation".[48] Earlier, Whitaker had charged that MEMRI's role was to "further the political agenda of Israel." and that MEMRI's website does not mention Carmon's employment for Israeli intelligence, or Meyrav Wurmser's political stance, which he described as an "extreme brand of Zionism".[44] Carmon responded to this by stating that his employment history is not a secret and was not political, as he served under opposing administrations of the Israeli government and that perhaps the issue was that he was Israeli: "If your complaint is that I am Israeli, then please say so." Carmon also questioned Whitaker's own biases, wondering if Whitaker's is biased in favor of Arabs – as his website on the Middle East is named "Al-Bab" ("The Gateway" in Arabic) – stating: "I wonder how you would judge an editor whose website was called "Ha-Sha-ar" ("The Gateway" in Hebrew)?[48]

Norman Finkelstein has described MEMRI as "a main arm of Israeli propaganda". In 2006, Finkelstein accused MEMRI of editing a television interview he gave in Lebanon in order to falsely impute that he was a Holocaust denier. In an interview with the newspaper In Focus in 2007, he said MEMRI uses "the same sort of propaganda techniques as the Nazis" and "take[s] things out of context in order to do personal and political harm to people they don't like".[49]

SelectivitySeveral critics have accused MEMRI of selectivity. They state that MEMRI consistently picks the most extreme views for translation and dissemination, which portray the Arab and Muslim world in a negative light, while ignoring moderate views that are often found in the same media outlets.[44][45][46][47] Juan Cole, a professor of Modern Middle East History at the University of Michigan, argues MEMRI has a tendency to "cleverly cherry-pick the vast Arabic press, which serves 300 million people, for the most extreme and objectionable articles and editorials ... On more than one occasion I have seen, say, a bigoted Arabic article translated by MEMRI and when I went to the source on the web, found that it was on the same op-ed page with other, moderate articles arguing for tolerance. These latter were not translated."[50] Former head of the CIA's counterintelligence unit, Vincent Cannistraro, said that MEMRI "are selective and act as propagandists for their political point of view, which is the extreme-right of Likud. They simply don't present the whole picture."[51][52] Laila Lalami, writing in The Nation, states that MEMRI "consistently picks the most violent, hateful rubbish it can find, translates it and distributes it in email newsletters to media and members of Congress in Washington."[45] As a result, critics such as UK Labour politician Ken Livingstone state that MEMRI's analyses are distortion.[53][54]

A report by Center for American Progress, titled "Fear, Inc.: The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America" lists MEMRI as promoting Islamophobic propaganda in the USA through supplying selective translations that are relied upon by several organisations "to make the case that Islam is inherently violent and promotes extremism."[55]]]>
Wed, 09 Jan 2019 05:24:56 +0000https://www.islamicity.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=43894&PID=218945&title=one-take-on-muslim-repression#218945https://www.islamicity.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=43894&PID=218943&title=one-take-on-muslim-repression#218943
Author: Tim the plumberSubject: 43894Posted: 09 January 2019 at 1:18am

DavidC wrote:

The line separating good and evil goes directly through the heart of every individual.

This man is not wrong, but the answer is in one's personal connection with God and not in social groups.

Eh?

Are we talking about theology here or the social and economic situation in Islamic lands?

The line separating good and evil goes directly through the heart of every individual.

This man is not wrong, but the answer is in one's personal connection with God and not in social groups. ]]>
Tue, 08 Jan 2019 11:51:06 +0000https://www.islamicity.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=43894&PID=218940&title=one-take-on-muslim-repression#218940https://www.islamicity.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=43894&PID=218938&title=one-take-on-muslim-repression#218938
Author: Tim the plumberSubject: 43894Posted: 08 January 2019 at 10:06am

I really don't think it should be considered a competition.

The main thing is, as far as I see it, a very positive change in attitude, at least in his attitude. Without self critisism you cannot advance.

Complaining about your state of existance and blaming it all on the great Satan or whatever will not make your situation any better. Looking hard at why you are not keeping up is a very different thing. As is shouting at yourself to get better!

I do think he’s right, although no doubt there are Muslims being repressed in the world, but the amount of repressing that Muslims do to non Muslims is however more then the other way around.]]>
Tue, 08 Jan 2019 09:02:11 +0000https://www.islamicity.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=43894&PID=218937&title=one-take-on-muslim-repression#218937https://www.islamicity.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=43894&PID=218935&title=one-take-on-muslim-repression#218935
Author: Tim the plumberSubject: 43894Posted: 08 January 2019 at 5:37am